Wolves Compete At Divisional Meet
Wolf Point wrestled at Glasgow in the new divisional format this weekend.
“We wrestled well this weekend. We were right where I thought we could be and should be,” Wolf Point coach Scott Vandall said. “We had pulled one upset in the blood round (loser out round to advance to state). I was very happy with the boys. We wrestled well. We are very young.”
The six Wolf Point wrestlers this week were one senior, one junior and four freshmen.
Mason Garfield wrestled at 182. He won his first match against a Fort Benton wrestler and then lost to a twotime state champion from Colstrip. Garfield came back and beat a wrestler from Harlem and then lost his third and fourth place match against the Glasgow wrestler. “Mason has had some good matches with skilled guys this year. The kids that have beat him this year are tough kids,” Vandall said. “Mason is returning to the state meet with intent. We are hoping for a podium finish this year. It won’t be easy, but we think he can get it.”
Freshman Chance Smith qualified for state at 205 pounds as he wrestled his way into Saturday to qualify he went 2-3 on the weekend. “He had to upset a senior from Columbus to get in. He did a great job. This was the best I seen him. Chance will have his work cut out for him at state. He will draw the number one kid out of the west,” Vandall said. “He also beat a Malta kid. We had a chance to get a little revenge on the first kids we wrestled, but we fell short.”
Senior Josh Bushman wrestled at 182 pounds. “Josh did well, he had to wrestle the number three seed from Glasgow and a defending state champion,” Vandall said. “He made just one little mistake and that was all it took. You can’t make any mistake with a kid like that.”
Bushman got a bye the next round and then lost to a Fort Benton wrestler that pleased last year in state. “Josh did a good job today and on the year. We are happy to have had Josh in this year wish we could have gotten him to state but it just wasn’t in the cards,” Vandall said.
Xavier Kemp wrestled at 138. He lost to a wrestler from fort Benton on his first match.
“Xavier just got too fast and went around the kid and a little out of control,” Vandall said. “He made that one mistake and it cost him. Xavier came back with wins the next two matches and then lost a heart breaker to a Colstrip kid. We were in good shape, made a small mistake and it cost us the match.”
Vandall added, “Xavier was heart broken. Xavier had a hard year. He wrestles hard, he has a lot of emotion. He has gained a lot of knowledge this year. We are hoping for some good things to come next year.”
Jordan Davis wrestled at 205 pounds this weekend. He lost his first match to a twotime state champion from Glasgow. He got a bye and then got beat by the same wrestler that Smith chance against. Davis gave up 25 pounds to these guys and they were both seniors. “We are very pleased with him. He has made a selfless sacrifice for the team and went up a weight class instead of asking for a wrestle off,” Vandall said. “He was a little upset at himself, but this kind of gave him a mindset to do better next year.”
Charlie Page wrestled at heavyweight. Page lost his first match to a Malta wrestler. “He did good. He went after the kid, got on his belly in a shot and that was learning point for him. He lost that match.”
Page got a bye the next round. He then lost a match to a Glasgow wrestler. “Charlie wrestled well, he made some freshman mistakes. He’s a light heavyweight. We are looking to fix some things this summer. He will come back with a vengeance next year.”
The Wolves will wrestle in Shelby for the state meet starting Friday. “I want to give a big thank you to the kids, you all did great this year, also to my staff coach Trisetan Kemp and coach Tyler Sterling. The success we had is on them they did a great job with the kids,” Vandall said. “I told them what we needed and they got it done, thanks guys. Also want to give big thanks to our AD, Cody Larson. This was a hard year to find matches due to COVID. Cody got us matches and gave us a lot of support.”
